4 first impressions as Man City send another warning before the break

Manchester City knew heading into their Sunderland match on Sunday that, should the Blues win, they would go into the international break three points clear of the rest of the English Premier League after five matches. At the same point last season, City had only seven points. With a victory against Sunderland, they'd have a perfect 15.

Still, the visitors from the northeast were in no mood to make things easy for Enzo Maresca's squad. Even an early goal by the recently acquired Enzo Fernandez wouldn't last long. The match was set up for a long narrative, and those cheering for City at Etihad Stadium had to hope the story didn't take a brutal turn at the end.

Each time in the opening half and early in the second half that City appeared to get some momentum, Sunderland came back to level. They were a feisty bunch, and even getting a point was not going to be easy. In the end, Manchester City headed into the international break with a 5-3 victory.

Immediate takeaways from Manchester City's victory against an inspired Sunderland squad

Slow starts might prove costly later in the season

A win is a win, of course, but Man City has begun a trend where, defensively, they are leaving loads of open space for other teams to try to take advantage of. That happened against Norwich City in last week's Carabao Cup match, but Norwich wasn't talented enough to do much about it.

Even before Enzo Fernandez scored in the ninth minute, Sunderland was able to make several different runs at goal. In the 12th minute, Brian Brobbey didn't waste his opportunity after dicing through two defenders and squeaking the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma to level the score.

The sleepy starts must cease, or better squads than Sunderland and Norwich could bury City early in a match, and let's just hope that doesn't happen late in the season if the top of the table is tight.

Brian Brobbey was the best player on the pitch

In a match fueled by elite forward play, the 24-year-old Dutchman was performing at a level all his own. He had a hat-trick before 60 minutes, appeared to be everywhere on the pitch, and City had literally no answer for him. Considering he hadn't scored in league play before Sunday, his run was as shocking as it was impressive.

The match was unfolding as not that City would need to outscore the entire Sunderland side, but whether the Blues could outscore Brobbey specifically, and there was no clear answer.

Erling Haaland finally gets his against Sunderland

While Antoine Semenyo was having a day with two goals, Haaland kept being frustrated early. In the first half, the Norwegian had a goal on his right boot with the goal open on his side, and he completely missed it. It was the kind of conversion that Haaland makes in his sleep, but not against Sunderland until that point.

Until the 81st minute, when he made a push toward goal and pushed one in. At first, offside was called, but after VAR reviewed it, the goal was allowed. Haaland can now cross Sunderland off the ever-shrinking list of teams he hasn't scored against.

The defense left early for the international break

Had Man City played the kind of defense it did against Sunderland against, say, Arsenal, Enzo Maresca's side might have allowed eight goals. The defense was atrocious. Thankfully, this hasn't been the case this season, and maybe this was simply one-match badness, but it can't go on.

City should have won easily, as offensively they were at their best. Instead, Maresca heads into his first international break with City undefeated at 7-0, including five EPL contests that give the team 15 points and a three-point lead on the table.